Alex Wiseman interviews Brian McFadden of BoyzLife

It’s Monday morning (18/06/2018) and I dial Brian’s mobile number dead on 9am as agreed by his management company.

‘I should have had you as my alarm clock’ – I am always punctual I thought.

Straight away I could tell this was going to be a fun and honest interview. I started where anyone interviewing Brian would.

AW: Are you glued to the World Cup?BM: Absolutely! Golf and world cup this weekend. While my wife watches Love Island…I did pop down stairs for dinner (I am sure this is a fairly common set up for the next 4 weeks or so…)

AW: Who is going to win the competition?BM: I may be Irish, but I am supporting England. I think England could do it! They are young kids and they are fearless.

Brian you were always my favourite.

AW: I must start with Westlife… it was 20 years ago since the band started, how does that make you feel?BM: It’s weird that its been that long. Although its been 14 years since I left the band and I have been out of the band twice as long as I was in it! They were great times and times which I will always remember until the day I die. The band were so successful. It had such a great fan base which appealed to all in the family.

AW: How do you look back on your time with the band?BM: It changed my life! It was an amazing time of my life, 18-24years old, although it felt longer. I left college and then suddenly I was playing to 15,000 people at Wembley, appearing on ‘Top of the Pops’ and visiting countries I had learnt about in geography but never thought I’d get the chance to visit. It was great to share the experience with 4 friends as being a solo artist would have been a lonely experience. It was 6 incredible years.

AW: Will there ever be a full Westlife Reunion?BM: I am sure the other boys will, but I doubt it would be us 5. I left 14 years ago, there was a further 11 years of the band before the split, so it’s unlikely to happen. But I am sure they will reform at some point.

AW: You have been a judge on ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ but it’s the ITV1 Show ‘Who’s Doing the Dishes?’ which I enjoyed the most.BM: So much fun to make!! Every single day at the time of that show coming along was about music. I was producing, writing and signing new artists to my label. I wanted to have a break from music and along came this show! We did 3 series and over 90 episodes which was so much fun! It’s now repeated across the ITV channels and I get a lot of people asking me about it on social media which is lovely.

AW: Who was your favourite celebrity to appear on the show?BM: That’s too hard to answer as so many of the people who came on were friends! I’ll always remember James Jordan. I thought he was a right ‘arse’ after appearing on Big Brother but he was great and we’ve since become friends! Olly Lock and Louis Walsh were fantastic.

AW: Now on to BoyzLife. You are into your 3rd year of touring, it must be popular?BM: It’s weird for us as it doesn’t seem like 3 separate tours as we haven’t stopped touring since launching the show. We play 20 or so hits from Westlife and Boyzone, with some stories thrown in. Its like a large karaoke show as every night the audience sing every word with us. It’s just so much fun and everyone enjoys the nostalgic feel of it.

AW: What’s your favourite song to sing? BM: Flying without Wings. I have sung that song in every show I’ve done. It’s the best Westlife song!

AW: Can we expect any other members to join BoyzLife?BM: It’s unlikely the Westlife boys will join. Shane Lynch (from Boyzone) did join the party for one gig not so long back. It depends who’s in the city at the time and who wants to join the party.

AW: BoyzLife have 11 dates planned for 2018 what else is planned?BM: We are touring together for those dates and then going out separate ways to allow Keith to re-join Boyzone and for me to complete my own solo tour with a 12-piece band – more details to follow! We will then get back together and see where to take it next.

Thank you for speaking to Iceni Magazine, Brian!BM: Thank you and I hope to see lots of your readers soon.